A Northern Irish clergyman will oversee the reburial of King Richard III.

Dean of Leicester, the Very Rev David Monteith, said he isn’t feeling any nerves ahead the Royal ceremony at the city’s cathedral.

Originally from Irvinestown, Co Fermanagh, he has been instrumental in the planning of Thursday’s service which he said he was “humbled” to be involved in.

Rev Monteith moved from Northern Ireland three decades ago and took up his current post in 2013.

He said: “King Richard III’s story has been very significant in our cultural and artistic life for centuries.

“Now the cream of writers and performers from our day help us to see our history and indeed ourselves in a new light with flair and imagination.”

Richard was killed at the Battle of Bosworth in 1485 - ending the Wars of the Roses and the Plantagenet dynasty.

His body was taken to Leicester by supporters of the victorious Henry VII and buried in Greyfriars church.

In February 2013 a skeleton discovered beneath a Leicester car park was confirmed as that of the English king.

In Richard III William Shakespeare depicted the monarch as a tyrannical, hunchbacked, bloodthirsty monster who murdered his way to the throne, but Richard III Society and others have argued he was a actually a benevolent ruler, innocent of the crimes the bard laid at his door.

It is estimated that between one million and 17 million people in the UK are connected in some way to the monarch whose remains were discovered in 2012.

His remains, wrapped in wool, will be placed in a tomb inside the city’s cathedral during the reinterment.

The service takes place on Thursday at 11.30am and will be broadcast live on Channel 4 from 10am.